Three lessons in sports therapy, learnt the hard way. Part 2

Lesson 2: ice baths are surprising good
The sciencey bit here is a little more controversial, but it's thought that by sitting in feckin' cold water for 10 minutes or so helps to:
- numb your aching legs, stopping them from hurting, and
- cause a rush of blood to the legs, flushing out the built up lactic acids, reducing the time for recovery

Studies into these effects have had varied results, but I thought I'd give it a go.

Luckily, the first run I decided to do this on (the 20-mile epic from the last post) was a warm day, so it didn't feel like that much of a chore when I got back. I filled the bath deep enough to cover my legs with cold water, then added a bag of ice (with a second back for top-ups.

Warm tea on-hand, I jumped in, and swore. A Lot.

After about 2 minutes of violent shivering, your body gets used to it, and it isn't actually as unpleasant as I was expecting. Your legs go very cold and kinda numb, stopping them from hurting, which helped. After about 12 minutes of this, I got out, rubbed feeling back in my legs, and waited for them to warm up a bit before a very welcome, and very hot, shower.

It's not exactly a controlled trial, but I certainly found I felt a lot better than I would have expected the next day. I'm convinced enough to keep trying ice baths after long runs. Except, right now, I can't do any long runs anyway. More on that in my next post...